Vehicle-wheel.



A. J. MANSFIELD.

VEHICLE WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED APR. 15, 1914.

N "QNN Q M? Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

awuawto'b ammun- AUBY J. MANSFIELD, 0F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON;

' VEHICLE-WHEEL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUBY J. MANSFIELD, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city of Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Im- 'provements' in Vehicle-Wheels, of. which the tection will be succinctly pointed out in the appended claims. I

For a full understanding of my invention reference is to be had to the following specification and the accompanying drawings where1n- Figure '1 1s a side elevatlon of my 1mproved wheel with portions omitted. Fig. 2

isa section on line 2- 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view on line 33 of Fig. 1 illustrating the abnormal position of the parts as when compressed on encountering an irregularity in the road surface, and Fig. 4:

is a fragmentary side elevation of-the wheel when disposed as in Fig. 3.

It may be preliminary mentioned that in my improved wheel, illustrated in the preferred embodiment in the drawings, there are employed a series of coiled flat springs interposed between the hub and felly, a furcatedsupport for each spring mounted on the outerend of a spoke of'the hub, a cou- 'pling or binding means connecting the supports for unison of circumferential movement, and means coacting with the supports for limiting such movement of the latter.-

Referring more in particular to the drawings, and employing like characters of ref-' erence for similar parts throughout the several views, 1 denotes the-wheel rim or felly bounded by the tire2, and 3 indicates the hub having the rigid spoke sections 4 prejecting radially therefrom.

The threaded outer end portions 4: of spoke-sections 4 are received by threaded sockets 5 of furcated supports 6 which latter have the extremities -7 of their furca- 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 23, 19%.

Application filed April 15, 1914:. Serial N0. 831,969.

tions or arms 8 turned inwardly to provide an abutment for the spring sections 9 of the spokes.

The springs 9 are each bent toform an eye 10, intermediate its ends, to receive the screw bolt 11 mounted on the arms 8 and is held against pivotal movement thereon by the stops or pins 12 on said arms engaging the opposite sides of the spring. terminal portion 13 of eachspring 9 terminates directly over the abutments or stops 7 while the longer terminal portion 14: convolves about the shorter terminal portion and screw bolt 11 and is attached to the inner face of the rim by fasteners 15 which also pass through the tire for securing it to the rim. Bearing blocks 16, of rubber,

leather, or other material, are secured to the spring terminals 14 .to serve as buffers.

The screw bolts 11, of the adjacent supports 6, are connected by pairs of coupling links 17 which serve to bind the spokes for circumferential.movement as a unit and yet permit of independent radial action.

The shorterv To limit the relative circumferential moveradial or outwardlyextending fingers 18.

which project between the component elements of pairs of stops 19. Those stops comprise narrow plates arranged transversely on the inner face of the rim to project laterally from the same. I also provide guard plates 20 on the sides of the wheel to protect the working parts thereof from foreign mat ter. These plates completely inclose the inher portion of the wheel and are secured to sections of the interrupted rings 21 arranged on the side faces of the rim to provide clearance for the stops 19 and fingers 18.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no undue limitation is to be understood therefrom, but the appended claims are to be construed as broadly as is per-' missible in view of the prior art.

Havlng thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Lettions fixed on the hub, a furcatedsupport on each spoke section, said support having the extremities of its furcations turned inwardly to form abutments, and springs in tions fixed on the hub, a furcated support on each spoke section, said support having the extremities of its furcations turned inwardly to form abutments, a coiled spring mounted intermediate its ends between the 1 furcations of each support, the ends of the spring terminating outwardly from the abutments of the support and in spaced relation with one another, and means for fastening the springs to the rim.

aways? 3. In a spring wheel construction, a hub,

a rim encircling the same, rigid spoke sec-' tions fixed on the hub, furcated supports threaded on the spoke sections, springs in terposed between the supports and the rim, means securing the springs between the furcntions of the-supports, links connecting the adjacent supports, and a guard plate on each side of the wheel for inclosing the springs and the supports.

Signed at Seattle, VVashligton this 30th day of March, 1914.

AUB-Y J. BIANSFIELD. Witnesses:

CLARA A. HARM, H. E. SPENCE. 

